Attention Small Business Owners:

Does This Situation Sound

Familiar To You?

I had a small business… 5 employees - nothing special, but it was my life. Then the internet came along in a big way and suddenly everyone had a website. I did what most people did 5 years ago, I got a webmaster to design and build mine. And quite frankly, it drove me to distraction!

Most of the time I couldn't get hold of him, so I'd leave a message with his wife (who I got to know very well), and he'd have to call me back. By the time he'd managed to return my call, which could often take 2 or 3 precious days, it was either inconvenient for me to talk, or I'd just given up on whatever idea I'd had, and so it went on. All during this time, nothing got done.

When he did manage to fit me into his schedule and his priorities, he wouldn't always do what I asked. Many times he would do what he thought I should do, or what he thought would be better. Or he simply wouldn't understand what I was trying to describe. This meant I was constantly going back, checking and re-checking the site, explaining it all again…

And the worst part was… all this hassle was at MY cost. At his minimum hourly rate (₤40/hr), even the smallest change - whether a few words or adding an image - would cost me dearly.

I was Embarrassed of my Site

Not only that, but the site was a disaster; a real hodgepodge of unfinished thoughts, incomplete ideas, and unprofessional pages.

I remember going to a trade show in our industry and scrubbing out the website address on our business cards as I handed each one out. I told people it wasn't active yet.

The truth was, my webmaster simply didn’t care. He had been paid my ₤2,000 up front cost for the basic site setup, and now he had new, more lucrative projects to move onto, instead of 'fiddling' with the details of my site.

As I tried to explain to him - This is my website! My business! My image. More than anything, I just wanted to get my hands on the site, and make the changes myself, but I had no idea how… it was another language and another world out there on the web.

In the end I got so frustrated and fed up I decided to try and learn HTML myself. I bought books, went to seminars… tried my hand at Dreamweaver. What a joke. Just to get online with all the FTP protocol was beyond my comprehension; I simply did not understand the intricate workings of the internet.

Trapped Between a Rock and a Hard Place

I was trapped between the proverbial rock and a hard place. I couldn’t do it myself, and I wasn’t getting anywhere with my webmaster.

So I let the website sit there – useless - for nearly 2 years. It had cost me over ₤2,500 all in, and all I had to show for it was an out-of-date, passive website that was completely useless.

In fact, it was probably worse than useless, because it surely wasn’t making any positive statements about my business… it was an embarrassment.

Thankfully I sold the business and let someone else take on the website headache!! If only I had met Deb back then and discovered iEdit.

Deb and I had been through much the same situation, but she was on the opposite side of the pond:

Same Situation - Opposite Sides

Meet Deb Andrews, webmaster and owner of CPMD. This is her story:

Seven years ago I began designing and maintaining websites for small businesses on the Caribbean island of Tortola, where I have lived for 20 years. Most of my customers were local businesses, although I did have some UK and US clients from referrals.

One of the biggest complaints my customers had, was that they couldn’t get the changes they needed to make to their websites done quickly enough.

Sometimes, if I was particularly busy, they’d have to wait several days before I could make their changes, which was obviously not satisfactory for them. And invariably they were even more unhappy when I presented them with a bill for my time.

"But It's Only 10 Words!"

“But it was only 10 words", they would howl, "how can you charge me $40 to change 10 words?”

It does seem unfair, it’s true. But, here's my side of the story:

In order to change those 10 words, I had to log onto their site having already secured all their access requirements, passwords, etc. I would then have to find the right pages on the site, make the changes, and then FTP (which, if you’ve never done, is a real pain!) the site onto the server. The minimum time it would take – even for just a one-word change – would be 40 minutes or so.

I could see their side of the problem, but for me to have a viable business, I HAD to charge for my time. Plus I recognised the lost opportunity for new business during this time, which is obviously a far greater money-earner. (And by the way, from an insider’s point of view, I can guarantee these minor changes are never going to be much of a priority to your average, busy webmaster, who is making loads more money constructing a new site for the next business…)

Eventually, I started to realise that this situation wasn’t working for me OR my clients, and I started to research my options. I was losing valuable time; so were they. I was losing my hard-earned money and valuable business opportunities; so were they.

The Birth of iEdit - 'The Perfect Solution'

At this time, I was very friendly with a programmer who used PHP – a FREE programming language available on the internet. We came up with the idea of a Content Management System (CMS) that would allow customers to manage their own websites, with the same minimum level of technical knowledge required to write an email.

And so iEdit was born… the Internet Editor that can be simply plugged into any existing website (or used to create a new site). iEdit allows the owner to log onto their website as easily as email, make any changes, create links, add menus, add images, edit content, add special offers, update news stories, etc)… all with the same ease and global access of email.

A CMS is NOT an original idea! There are a lots of them out there; the difference is, with most of the others, you have to download software, and usually start again from scratch, as integrating a CMS into an existing website requires a lot of technical know-how.

If you even considering a CMS to begin with, no offence, but the chances are, the programming you’ll need to download, configure, integrate and repopulate your existing website will be life-threatening to you! If you know how to do HTML and FTP, then you don’t need CMS anyway. But, most people who need a CMS need it BECAUSE they don’t know how to do all this techno-stuff.

Keep Your Existing Website (if you want to!)…

With iEdit, we can integrate the CMS into your EXISTING website for you, meaning you get to keep the parts of your site you like. It also means you don't have to waste however much time and money you've already invested into the design and construction of your site!

(Of course, if you want to start again, or don't have a website yet, iEdit is the perfect tool to get started with, and there are solutions to fit all budgets - from off-the-shelf templates to unique and ? Designs by professional designers.)

So now you can take your site and actually make it work for YOU. You can use it to drive your business instead of having it lag behind. You can update it as often as you like, keeping your customers interested and returning by giving them current and fresh content, ideas, special offers, news and pertinent information.

Imagine This:

Let's say you sell widgets. You're sitting in NY airport with a 3-hour layover when you hear the 2 guys next to you discussing widgets. Your ears prick up, not that you intended to eavesdrop, of course…

"I really need some widgets" says one of the chaps, "but I hate paying the p&p every time I order".

The light bulb goes off in your head and you wander over nonchalantly. "I heard you discussing widgets", you say, "perhaps you would be interested in my business card (handing it over)… we have a special offer at the moment - free p&p on all orders of 2 or more widgets placed before the end of the month".

You smile, and walk away. Once out of sight, you break into a sprint to the nearest laptop hook-up and boot up your computer. Go onto your iEdit website, and log in.

Easy as 1 - 2 - 3

1. Select ‘Edit Homepage’.

2. Add a 'Special Offer' Icon - (iEdit gives you loads of free images to use, which you add with a few clicks of your mouse).

3. Now type underneath: FREE P&P on all orders of 2 or more widgets placed before end of the month and click save.

And you're done!

• No webmaster (at ₤30+/hour)
• No phone calls
• No lost opportunity
• No technical knowledge required
• NO COST!
• NO WAITING!……….
  

Plus, do you realise what you've achieved in those 10 minutes?

1. You've responded to a client's feedback - immediately

2. You've increased your order to a minimum of 2 widgets

3. You've encouraged them to order online (less overhead for you)

4. You've incentivised them to order within an immediate time frame (end of the month).

5. If the Return on Investment works out, you've now got a new marketing strategy that you can reuse over and over.

6. You've out-manoeuvred the competition

7. You've gained a new customer by meeting their needs, and if you treat them well, they'll be yours for life!

Now calculate the value of that over the next 10 years... Well worth the cost of p&p, isn't it!

Tell the World What You Want Them to Know!

Or... let's say you have a law firm and have just hired a new, high-powered tax lawyer who can guarantee 10% savings on annual tax returns for most small businesses.

You want to announce your new service on the website before your office opens for business the next day, but it's 7:00 at night, everyone's gone home and you're hungry. So head home, eat dinner, spend some time with your family, and then at 10:00 fire up your laptop, log in and make your announcement to the world! In five minutes! Literally… Then sleep tight knowing it's done!

Capture Your ‘Aha’ Moment:

The wonderful thing about this system is, you can do it on the fly. No matter where you are, even an internet café, or with any wireless hook-up and your laptop, you can access your site, make changes, updates, news additions, special offers, all in just minutes, hit save and it’s in REAL TIME… i.e. the changes are there for the customer to see immediately.

Update Your Site Anytime...

From Anywhere... Even on Holiday!

Let’s say you’re on holiday. You’re sitting by the pool, and you've just had a brainwave! Instead of listing all your products on one page, you're going to give them each their own page and give the customer more information to help them make their decision to buy.

You pop into the hotel's internet connection and log in. Enter your password. Add your pages, your menu items (which iEdit automatically links for you!), write your descriptions. Log out. Go back to your sun-downer cocktail !

Be a True Competitor

Your competitor decides to cut prices and you want to compete. Just log onto the nearest computer and change your prices! What might have taken several days with a webmaster, you can do yourself in minutes!

Or you have end-of-season inventory you want to move. Log on, select ‘Edit homepage’. Add a box with some clearance offer: (50% off all widgets!). Link to shopping basket. Click save. That's it!

Just remember to let your sales staff know about the new sale before the phones start ringing!!

Never be Under the Control

of Someone Else Again

No more extra charges, no more waiting… this is YOUR site, make it work for YOU. A website is designed to drive your business… it is one of the most powerful marketing tools available to modern business, and yet 99% of website owners have no idea how to make their website work for them.

For instance, did you know that constantly updating and changing the content of your site means the search engines are more likely to find you?

Or that having external links to other sites greatly increases your position with Google? Imagine if you find a relevant site, you can add that link in just a few minutes with iEdit.

iEdit makes your business totally responsive, and puts the response time back under your control.

A ‘Must’ for Every Small Business

With iEdit, it's easy to add links, add new pages, add images, type instructions, change rates and prices… anything you want - and it requires absolutely no technical knowledge or special software.

You will be able to react IMMEDIATELY, and this is what will make your business successful… You will respond to the needs and suggestions of your customers - immediately. You will react to market changes, price wars and seasonal demands - immediately.

iEdit allows you to keep your website (and thereby your business) up-to-date, on the cutting edge, and in the running… It gives you the competitive advantage. And if you have any marketing skills at all, this will be your dearest friend and your greatest tool.

Take a good look around this site. It's all done in iEdit. And here's the kicker: I did it! A lowly copywriter, who's own site was so bad, I had to pretend it didn't exist; who knows nothing about the internet or HTML. I did all of this! That was my deal with Deb; if I could do it, then I'd help her!

Well, I did it!! All the text, images, links, menus, copy... with only about an hour of basic training right at the start. Once you play with iEdit, you'll wonder why you put up with all the other nonsense for so long!

What’s the Catch?

There is a catch. Of course! If you want to be able to do extensive graphic design and complicated programming, this is not the program for you.

iEdit is limited - much in the same way as most word processing programs. You can change appearance, font, bold, indents, bullets, colours, boxes, images, menu items, and link anything to anything internally and externally. But you won’t be creating Picasso-like designs with it!

But, if that puts you off, consider this:

Did you know that graphics account for less than 2% of your customer draw! The value of graphics in attracting a client, forging a relationship, and closing a sale is negligible.

If you realise that was matters is: WHAT YOU SAY, the PRODUCT you sell, the OFFER you make, the EASE of navigation within your site, and the CLARITY of your words - NOT the graphics, then you’ll see the value in iEdit, which gives you immediate and constant control over every word you say on your site.

The Magic of iEdit!

We will take your existing website and integrate it with iEdit so you will be able to:

And so much more!

For a full list of the iEdit Features, click here

At this point you only want to know 2 things:

What does it cost?

A basic iEdit integration costs less than ₤1 a day!

That gives you your iEdit website, plus your 5 FREE bonuses , FREE membership, FREE support, your satisfaction guarantee , plus secure hosting with 25 email accounts (including web mail, email forwarding and auto-response), unlimited storage and bandwidth, and a full-access control panel.

All for £29.95 per month!

How do I get it?

We will integrate iEdit directly into your site using your your existing graphics and layout (if you want!) for you. All you have to do is say ‘yes please’ and leave the rest to us. When you get your site back, you will be in full control of it, no matter how non-technical you are!

The basic integration will take one week! During this period, your existing site will remain live so there's no down-time and your business continues on seamlessly.

What would you like to do now?

I want to buy iEdit now !

I'd like to Take a Tour first…

I'd like to Try it Myself ...

I'd like to Talk to Someone ...